Government-imposed changes to the fees Mexican airports can charge will affect all of the companies’ tariffs and not just the charges for airline passengers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — Government-imposed changes to the fees Mexican airports can charge will affect all of the companies’ tariffs and not just the charges for airline passengers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration made changes to the formula that sets price caps for airport tariffs, including the passenger fee known as the TUA, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing the details. The move will affect the entire tariff system, which also includes airport services for use of runways and leasing spaces to airlines and suppliers, the person said.
The companies are waiting to meet with the Infrastructure, Communications and Transport Ministry before they can understand the impact to their operations as the paperwork the government sent was not entirely clear, the person said. Normally, the companies and the government negotiate the cap every five years, and it’s updated every six months to reflect inflation. But the operators all said the latest changes were unilateral.
The three publicly traded airport operators — Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SAB, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico SAB, and Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte SAB — have declined to elaborate on the nature of the changes, saying they’re studying the situation. The ministry hasn’t replied to requests for comment.
Shares of GAP and OMA, as the companies are known, tumbled as much as 44% for the worst intraday drop on record, while Asur dropped as much as 31%. A large part of airport operators’ revenues in Mexico come from TUAs.
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